Vending machine



Feb. 15,1927.

c. J. PAULSON VENDING MACHINE original Filed April 22. 1921 PatentedFeb. 15,1927.

. U TETD ST T "CHARLES J; 'IATTIISON, or BnooKLYN, NEW roan.

MACHINE f Application filed A'pril 22; 192i; Serial'it'b. 463, 65, 11 Rnewed-Jul i, i926.

This invention're'lates to vending machines and my present improvementsare directed particularly to' automatic means for detecting andrejecting lightiveight coins, disks,

5 slugs, washers and other devices with which lt ls not uncommnto-attempt to operat coin-controlled mechanism; With the ventling'machines at pr'es'ent in use these fraudulent practices have metwith some success because the preventive means hitherto kn'o'vvn andemployed have not been Wholly eflicient, and this lack of positivelyreventive means against the operative employment of other than theactual coins ion'W-hi'ch' a given L5 vending device is-intende'd has ledto the production ofthe present invention;

My invention-also includes meansfjor preventing the choking eta-vendingmachine with coinsordisks. "1 r 2 Essentially my improvements may'be'sa-id to comprise 'i v j 1) The employment of gravity, interceptingmeans in 'thecoin chute Whichprevents the passage of a light Weight diskand instead ejects it from the side of the chute.

Means including the arrangement of a coin chute relatively to thepoint'of oper- "ative lodgment for a coin whereby following coins fordisks entering th'e 'chute,-to

V ,3 hoke it; illbe deflected by the lodged coinand ejectedjfrom theside of the chute.

(8) The employmentwf means whereby coinsj disks or slugs that-"areofsmal'ler size than the particular coin for which the machine "isdesigned, Will, itof suflicient weight, pass through the chute, but Willfail to become lodged inth'efm'echanism thereof to perform the usefulfunction which it isthe part of a designated coin toperform.

(4) Means whereby spurious coins" or disks composed of magnetizablematerial Will be defiectedand ejectedfr'om theside of the chute by amagnet that is's'o located j I I I and;'tli'e"plate 5 has-apor'tlon 11that en- 7 gages said ca device, when said plate is r with. respect tothelateral ejection outletpof an inclined chuteas tobe highly eii'ectivein ejecting disks of this character. a

V V 5) Means forimpaling Washers or disks having a central orificeifthese should be-- come lodged in the, operative part-of the machine,,the impaling"means serving to cause the ejection of this class offraudulent device in the attempted operation of the machine thereby.

, (6) Means whereby the entrance to the .coin chute is so angled withrelationtothe receiving slot latter is just'of sufworkingag'ainst areturn spring 12,}and the ficient dimensions to i receive a designatedcoin) that arectangular blank, not too Wide to enter the slot,thoughcapable of operafive lodgment in the machine, is preventedtrom'passing into the chute.

"Other-features and advantages ofimy invention will hereinafter appear,

lnthe drawinga 7' Figured is a vertical, side sectional View of aportionof a vending machine including 7 myimprovementse v I i Fig. 2 is anenlarged, front elevation thereof, and r Fig; 3 is-an enlarged detailviewof the mechanism for the rejection of orificed'coins ordisks.

Wlrle the invention compris-edin the present-application is capable ofemployment with vending mac"hines in general, I "have applied itsfeaturesto the'machine: which is g the subject'ofmy earlier patentapplication My "sa d" ear lierapplication included a plunger 1,operating in a guide :2, and -hav- 'in'g'a handle 3 by which it could''be'pulled 5 for'x'zv-ar dlyagainst the retractile energy of'a spring 4regulator plate 5, pivoted to the lower end of a lever- '6, and providedwith a coin 5lodgmenteat7 has'that seat located normally beneath a coinslot 8 in the p1u-nger, s0 t l-late 'coin' A delivered to slot 8,

"lodgesin seat? andthereby unites the pl-unger 1 and plate, and when theplunger is pulled forwardly it draws the plate-5 withit,therebyoperatingthe lever 6 against the 'retractile energy 'ozt'aspring 9, that; per-- form certain article ejecting and otheriu'nctions, not 1 necessar t repeat herein;

The guide 2 hasa forward cam device-10" pulled forwardly, to release theseat 7 from theco'in, the plate 51in that release action ispf'i-ng' '12causing the returntonor al posi:

'tion of plate "5 "before the plunger has reached the limitof itsoutwardstroke,

"Wher'eafter thecoin is free to drop-into a coin receptacle. f I

rhepaiticular features of the; foregoing assemblage to be aotea "in conjunetionwith r tay'pre'sefit' improvements are the coin slot 8 inplunger 1, and the coin seat 7 in vplate 5. Said slot8, in the normalposition of plunger 1, is located beneath a chute 13,

, Whichis to conduct a coin to slot 8 for lodgment in the coin seatingslot 7 ofplant 5.

The chute 13 is a straight, flat tube, openat both ends but arranged ata slight edgewiseinclination, its lower end, for coin de-' livery, beingset somewhat olf centre with respect to the slot 8, into which it is' todeposit a coin for'operative purposes. Thus, the forward edge (in Fig.2) of chute 13,

' which at its lower portion has a coin ejection opening '14, extendsbeyondthe confines of slot 8, but the rearward edge thereof, at the samelower portion, is given an inward curved surface 15, which continuesinto an outward curvature 16, thatterminate's, at the chute end, justwithin the vertical plane bounding the rear edge of slot 8, above salds1ot.-. v

The purpose of the curvature 1'516 is to cause a designated coin,falling angularly through the chute, to be guided in its emer- ;gencefrom the chute so that it will fall into slot 8,'and, while lodged inseat 7 will gproject above slot 8 in manner to present its upper segmenttangentially to the base of a following coin or "disk which latter willthereby become deflected upon striking. said seated coin and be ejectedthrough opening 14, .in this way positively preventing the chute frombecoming choked, either with "tion has an edgeopening 17, withan'outdesignated coins, or with disks or slugs.

The chute 13, at its upper, forward porwardly angled lip 18 that liesbeneath a coin vslot 19 in a cover plate 20. The slot 19 is gauged tojust clearingly receive a designated coin, and is located in itssuperposed relation to the chute 13 to deposita coin upon the lip 18,'sothat the coin will enter the chute angularly, but the space between vthe plate20 and the top edge'of lip 18 is insufficient to permit theentry into'the chute of a rectangular blank whose width is about equalto the diameter of the designated coin.

' Pivoted at 21 to lugs 22 upon the chute,

at anintermediate point thereof, is a pawl tion 25 that normallyholdssaid pawl in its. intercepting position in the chute to prevent orinterceptor 23 having an end, inclined seat or ledge portion 24 thatlies within the I chute, in'V-the path of a falling coin or disk,

said pawl being balanced by a weighted porthe pas'sagetherethrough of anobject whose I weight is less than that of a designated coin. Thereforealightweight coin or disk is arrested in'transit through the chute andis caused to be ejected through a slot or open- 7 ing 26v provided inthe rear edge ofthe chute, it being guided toward said opening byreasonof-the inclined character of the pawl seat ortion' 24- whose inclinationis direct-. ed o nw rdly toward sa d p n ng 26.

But designated coins, namely, coins of the value intended to eifect thedelivery of the article to be vended, will overbalance the weight 25,thereby tilting the seat portion 24 and providing the necessaryclearance to permit passage of such coin through the chute 'for deliveryto slot 8.

Also at the rear, upper portion of chute 13'I mount a magnet 27, capableof attract-' coin or blank'A'striking said lodged coin tangentially andthereby being ejected through opening 14.

hole, and which is of suflicient weight to pass thebalanced arrestingand ejecting'device becoming engaged in slot 8 and lodged on seat 7, Iprovide other ejection means of the following character. 7 y

Lugs 28 carried by the plunger 1 serve as bearings fora rod 29, on whichis'carried a hook 30, whose point is inclined toward. the.

slot 8 in position to impale an orificed coin or blank D lodged in saidslot. A post 31 extends vertically from rod 29 and is urged For a washeror disk having a central rearwardly against a stop 32 by the tension of.aspring 33 connecting said post with a vrearward post34 mounted on theplunger.

Also the rod 29. at, its ends, carries the rear wardly inclined legs 35that are adapted to bear against lugs 36 projecting from the op positesides of plate 5. The effect of spring 33 is superior to that of spring12, and therefore, as, the plunger is being drawn forwardly, causing thehook 30 to impale the coin or disk the legs 35 press against lugs 36 anddepress plate 5,v thereby releasing the coin or disk D from its seatedengagement with slot; 7, and permitting spring 12 to re-- tract saidplate 5 before lever 6 has been rocked a suflicientdegree, (in theorganism of my SfllClearlier application, Serial No.

451,948) to permit spring 9 to effect an articleejection. In fact a stop37 mounted on plunger 1, arrests the further rearward movement ofpost 31at the point in the operation of legs 35 when they have spread the plate5 apart from plunger 1 sufliciently to release the orificed'coin ordisk, because the impaling hook 30, in its concurrent upward movement,will have lifted the coin or disk (when-the orifice thereof is small) toassist in eifecting its dislodgment. Therefore the continued forwardpull of plunger 1 will be idle movement, and in its return motion thecoin or disk will strike against th erect pl te 5 a d here y beshifted'ofi Obviously, when a designated coin is lodged in the seat 7and slot 8 the hook will merely bear against the surface of such coin asthe plunger 1 is pulled outwardly, and consequently no co-action betweenthe legs and lugs 36 can occur to interfere with the article ejectingoperation of the machine.

Variations within the spirit and scope of my invention are equallycomprehended herein.

I claim f 1. The combination, in a vending machine, of a coin chutehaving an edgewise outlet, said chute being inclined downwardly in thevertical plane of said outlet, and the edge surface of said chute whoseplane intersects the vertical medial line through the chute providedwith following inward and outward curvatures, coin lodgment meanslocatedbeneath said chute with its centre at one side the verticalcentre of said chute exit, whereby a following coin or disk will strikea lodged coin tangentially and be discharged through said outlet.

'2. The combination, in a vending ma chine, of means provided with acoin reception slot, a chute for the passage of coins, located in spacedrelation beneath said slot, the centres of said slot and chute mouthbeing unaligned, the upper end of said chute having an edge openingundersaid slot, and guide means to direct a coin from said slot, through saidedge opening, into said chute.

3. The combination, in a vending machine,

. of means provided with a coin reception slot,

a chute for the passage of'coins located in spaced relation beneath saidslot, said chute being edgewise inclined, the centres of said slot andchute mouth being unaligned, the upper end of said chute having an edgeopening under said slot, and guide means to direct a coin from said slotthrough said edge opening, into'said chute.

4:. The combination, in a vending machine having coin seating meanswhereby a coin may form an operative part of the machine, of means forimpaling an orificed coin or disk lodged in said seating means, saidmeans comprising a pendent hook curved to direct its point toward thecoin or disk and means for concurrently releasing said seating meansfrom said orificed coin or disk.

having a plunger with a coin slot therein, a

guide for the plunger, a pivotal: memberv sition of said plunger, meanscarried by said hook carrying means to co-act with said pivotal memberinthe forward movement of said. plunger, and release its coin seat froma lodged, orificed coin or disk, concurrently with the impaling actionof said hook, and

a stop 'tolimit the tensionally urged'moves ment of said hook.

Signed at'the borough of Manhattan, in

this 8th day of April A. D., 1921.

7 CHARLES J. PAULSON. I

5. The combination, in a vending machinethe city, county, and State ofNew York,

